It’s garbage day. Usually the trash is picked up around 8:00 in the morning. As I drive past Al and Cathy’s house I notice Al sitting in his garage so I stop to say Hi.
They don’t have the big can like we do - they don’t need it. Al is retired and with just him and his wife they produce very little garbage each week.
Al tells me he is waiting. He’s going to catch them! It turns out someone, each week, early in the morning has been dumping their household garbage in his can. Last week, they didn’t even try to fit it in the can, they just dumped a couple of trash bags next to it. That cost Al an additional $20.
Al was pissed, so he called the garbage company. They did a little digging. It turns out there are more than 10 households nearby in our nice neighborhood that don’t have garbage service.
Ok, they might be vacant houses right? That’s what I thought. Nope. I went and drove by a couple of them. One was vacant, Foreclosure Brown. The others had cars in the driveway.
The next thing you know they’ll be running extension cords out my garage. “Honey, why is the power bill so high this month?”
I guess that’s one way to save money. Sign of the times!
Mortgage Industry Professionals. Like what you see?
SUBSCRIBE for free by RSS or email, and never miss a post!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Wade Young // Feb 1, 2008 at 10:59 am
That’s taking the cheapskate concept to a whole new level. Astounding. I once knew a couple who unplugged their television at night even though it was already turned off. They claimed that it sucked electricity at night even when it wasn’t turned on.
2 Paul // Feb 2, 2008 at 8:49 am
OK, but I still don’t understand declining markets.
3 Rhonda Porter // Feb 2, 2008 at 9:37 am
This made me chuckle. We have a couple who lives two doors down and does have garbage collection. However they refuse to bring their glass bin out…instead, they walk past one neighbor and dump their nasty dirty gin jugs in our glass recycle. They’re older and are financially fine…I think she just gets a kick out of the thrill of sneaking garbage into some one elses bin. I guess I live in an odd neighborhood!
You know you want to leave a comment!
First time comments will be moderated before publishing. All voices and opinions are welcome so long as you conduct yourself in a professional manner, and contribute to the conversation at hand.